Established in 2004, the Global Institute for BioExploration (GIBEX – www.gibex.org)
is a research and development network that promotes ethical, natural product-based
pharmacological bioexploration to benefit human health and the environment in developing
countries by employing “Screens-to-Nature” (STN) technologies. STN uses rapid, cost-effective,
non-hazardous, field deployable pharmacological assays to screen plants for biotherapeutic
potential. The STN technology has proved to be a viable tool for early stage discovery
of bioactive substances in plants, thereby facilitating the research and product development
capacity of institutions in developing countries with limited resources. Building
R&D collaborations between developed and developing nations also enhances the ability
to discover and preserve the health-promoting potential of global natural resources
before those resources, or the traditional knowledge associated with their use, is
lost or destroyed.
